Dr John Glaister

2011 College Recipient, College of Science and Engineering

Dr John Glaister is a proud alumnus of James Cook University and credits his undergraduate and post graduate studies at the University as the foundation of a successful later career.

Commencing his tertiary education at University College Townsville in 1969, Dr Glaister graduated from the very new James Cook University in 1974 with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in botany, zoology and marine biology.  He was very active in the Student Union and university and inter-college sports, and a clear winner of the annual ‘Yard Glass’ competition.

His career has taken him through Queensland, NSW and Northern Territory fisheries departments and in 1986 was awarded his doctoral work to the study of NT Barramundi populations. He became Chief Executive NSW State Fisheries in 1995. After periods with UniQuest and Sport and Recreation Queensland he moved to New Zealand in 2004 as Chief Executive of the Ministry of Fisheries with national and international responsibilities.

Returning to Australia in 2007, Dr Glaister was appointed Deputy Director General, Queensland Department of Transport. In 2010, he joined construction company Liang O’Rourke as Chief Scientist, before returning to the public sector in 2011 to take on the Deputy Director-General role for Health Planning and Infrastructure within Queensland Health.

In 2012, Dr Glaister was appointed Director-General of the Department of National Parks, Recreation, Sport and Racing a role held until 2015. He is currently consulting in a private capacity.

He has published scientific papers and presented at State, national and international forums, as well as encouraging junior scientists at each agency to undertake post-graduate studies and gain further qualifications and research and management skills.

Along the way he has added to his JCU degrees with a Masters of Science from UNE, an MBA from University of Queensland and two PhDs from UNSW and UQ.

Updated 2011